Ficus carica Leaves Decoction on Glycemic Factors of Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Background: It is advisable to pay sufficient heed to the high prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) management, which has heavy burden and remarkable impact on the patients` life quality. Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate hypoglycemic effects of Ficus carica (FC) decoction (common fig leaf) in patients with type 2 DM. Patients and Methods: It was a double-blind cross-over clinical trial. There were two groups of 14 subjects. During the first phase of the study, one group received fig leaf decoction for 21 days and the other one received green tea as placebo. After a one-week wash-out period, the patients changed their medications and continued for another 21 days. Variables including fasting blood sugar (FBS), 2 hours postprandial blood sugar (2hpp), fructosamine, HbA1c, C-peptide, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were analyzed at baseline, and at the end of two phases of the study and were compared. Results: Thirteen patients in each group completed the trial. FBS, fructosamine, HbA1c, and C-peptide baseline and post-trial amounts in the case group were 152.76 ± 53.75, 146.92 ± 51.28 mg/dL (P = 0.073), 2.92 ± 0.515, 2.83 ± 0.482 mM/L (P = 0.276), 7.48% ± 0.535, 7.33% ± 0.532 (P = 0.114), 2.90 ± 1.01, 3.06 ± 1.15 ng/mL (P = 0.419), respectively; 2 pp at baseline was 230.80 ± 64.67 mg/dL, which significantly decreased to 193.15 ± 61.70 mg/dL after treatment with FC decoction; while it was 229.65 ± 70.13 mg/dL after treatment with placebo (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Addition of FC decoction to oral hypoglycemic drugs might significantly decrease 2hpp in patients with DM type 2. It is a safe and inexpensive method. The mechanism for this decrease is something other than increased insulin secretion.